How using nanotechnology on food and skin-care products affects your health

Nanotechnology is being used to process and create food and cosmetics with the use of nanoparticles. It's about the manipulation of materials thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair. Why are nano particles put in food to make it tastier? Also see: Down on the Farm: The Impact of Nano-scale Technologies on Food and Agriculture.

Studies are still being done also to see whether nanoparticles in sunscreen could or could not pose one of the risks of Alzheimer's disease or other dementias. See: "Can sunscreen nanoparticles cause Alzheimer's disease" and "Could sunscreen cause Alzheimer's?", News,Times Wellness Online. How safe are nanoparticles for food, cosmetics, and the environment -- outside of medical uses of nanotechnology where it's needed in gene therapy?

Nanoparticles are added to food and skin care products such as cosmetics because it's supposed to make stronger, lighter materials, cosmetics that don't easily rub off, and food a lot tastier, but perhaps unsafe for your health. Silver nanoparticles could improve the safety of the world's food supply, according to a research project at Iowa State University. See: Nanoparticles could improve food safety.

It's the tiniest particles undergoing the greatest atomic-level changes - those less than 30 nanometers in width - that could be dangerous or risky because they're unique and human-engineered.

How unsafe, scientists are still researching the impact nanoparticules have on your skin. For example, can the nanoparticles in sun screen get into your brain and cause Alzheimer's disease? That's only one of many topics being studied by science at the present time.

According to the article "Link between sunscreen and Alzheimer’s Disease being investigated," by Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent, published August 24, 2009 in the Telegraph, UK, the University of Ulster said two of its experts have been given substantial funding by the European Union to explore the possible links between the sunscreen and brain disease. Scientists are researching whether human-engineered nanoparticles, such as those found in sunscreen, can induce neurodegenerative disease.

Some studies suggest nano-sized objects may have different effects in the body than larger ones. What defines a nano particle? It's an object, like the point of a pin, with a diameter between 1 and 100 nanometers -- about 1/10,000 the diameter of a human hair, and if it has properties not present in its naturally occurring counterpart.

Consumers might look into the research currently being done at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Scientists are trying to find out whether the special properties of nanoparticles in your food and cosmetics or skin care products may be hazardous to your health. In fact, the research is focusing on whether there are any potential hazards posed by nanotechnology. See: Duke Center for Environmental Implications of NanoTechnology (CEINT).

Nanoparticles are human-made. And there's an infinite number of them that is possible to make now and in the future. Are they bad for your health? What diseases can they cause, if any?

Scientists such as Mark Wiesner, an engineering professor at Duke and director of the federally funded Center for the Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology, are studying nanoparticles in relation to whether any pose a health hazard. The research team's study appears in the journal, Nature Nanotechnology. And scientists don't want to overlook nano medicine either. See the topic, Nanomedicine in Nature Nanotechnology.

So before people jump to the conclusion that nanoparticles are being dumped into food, look at another use of nano medicine in gene therapy for cancer patients. Cancer gene therapy requires a safe and effective gene delivery system. See the abstract of the article on cancer gene therapy with nanotechnology.

The problem with putting nanoparticles in food to make it taste better is that the nanoparticles could be highly reactive with other chemicals in the environment and can also disrupt certain activities within cells. Nanoparticle toxicity as size decreases is what scientists are researching currently. How harmful or not are nanoparticles to humans and our environment?

As consumers, you need to read the report published by the National Research Council. The Council found serious gaps in the government's plan for determining whether nanomaterials pose a risk. Some one has to call for an effective national plan for identifying and managing potential nanoparticle risks in foods, suncscreen, cosmetics, skin-care products and other uses. In the past MSG has been used to make food tastier, and now it's nanoparticles in food to make it tastier.

With all the protests about the toxic effects of MSG on some, but not all people, now it's something more unique--nanoparticles in food. Why does food have to be tastier? To make money, to addict people to come back to buy more? It's all about following the money. Why can't people learn to like the natural taste of food without enhancing it with nanoparticles to make it tastier? Why not use spices?

Currently, more than 600 products involving nanomaterials are on the market. Most are health and beauty products. Right now researchers are working on ways to use the materials for medical therapies, food additives and electronics. Using nanoparticles to help cancer patients with gene therapy is a good use of nanotechnology. Adding it to food or food additives is frightening to those who want food to be safer.

When doctors treat cancer patients, they may use polymer- and lipid-coated magnetic nanocrystals. Using nanotechnology to silence RNA is one use. Problems that scientists are trying to solve is how to synthesize the magnetic vectors in nano medicine.

What physicians treating cancer patients with gene therapy using nanotechology are doing is showing that a new nanoparticle formulation can be magnetically guided to deliver and silence genes in cells and tumours in mice. This formulation, termed LipoMag, consists of an oleic acid-coated magnetic nanocrystal core and a cationic lipid shell.

That's a good use of nanotechnology, to heal and cure. But why added nanoparticle to food to make it tastier? Making food tastier is an art and belongs in the hands of a cook or chef, not under a nanoparticle beam. For more information, see: Do Nanoparticles in Food Pose a Health Risk?: Scientific American.

Resources:

Nanoparticles could improve food safety The Big Risk of Insanely Small Nanoparticles in Our Food Nanotechnology in the Food Industry Researcher looks to use nanoparticles for food safety What Happens When Nanoparticles Enter The Food Chain? Food body urges caution in brave new nanotech world Customized nanoparticles for product improvements in food, medical Use of Nanoparticles in Food Safety | Nanotechnology Development Blog the Foresight Institute » ETC Group on nanoparticles in food